Shade and Clearwater

Chapter Thirteen

When we got to the farm, I went right to sleep, and let me tell you, it was nice to be back in what was starting to feel like my own bed. Exhausted as I was, I slept through that whole evening and through the night, so long my back ached in the morning. As soon as I'd had breakfast, Miles insisted on a medical check-up, what with everything that had happened over the course of the mission.

"So? What d'you think?" I asked, sitting on the edge of the cot in the infirmary. Miles had me wired to monitor my heart rate, blood pressure, and my brain waves, I think, if that's what those electrodes running off the sides of my head indicated.

"Physically, you are in excellent condition," said Miles, looking at the tablet in his hand.

"And mentally?"

Miles gave me a wry grin. "I was hoping you could tell me a little bit about that."

I sighed. "I'm a little creeped out that I have a ghost living in my head. I still wonder if Jon wasn't right, that maybe I should've offed him when I had the chance."

"You still could."
"I know, but I think now it would be even worse. Like, if I do it now, he'd be completely helpless, but if I had just killed him on the spot, it would've felt justified. I don't know if that makes sense."

Miles nodded. "In times of war, soldiers who surrendered were typically taken alive. The victors were expected to take care of their prisoners. It was a sort of code." He rubbed his chin. "You were even allowed to question your prisoners, though torture was frowned upon. You also might consider that you have a valuable piece of intelligence in your head."

I struggled for a moment to wrap my mind around what Miles was saying. Jorge Luis had taught me about war, though the Federation had never seen one in my lifetime. And what was that part about intelligence? Then I got it. "You mean we could use Agent Hughes to figure out what the Feds are up to and how they think and all that."

"Exactly."

"I'll give it some thought." I looked at Miles and I could tell he wanted to press me more but something was holding him back. "So what's up with Jon?" I asked. "How come that marshal could see him?"

"That remains a mystery," said Miles, frowning. "I can't say I even fully understand Jon's power in the first place. It appears to be two-fold, in that it appears to affect people's perception rather than actually making him invisible, but with some second component that makes him invisible to digital sensors. The fact that only one of the four agents could see him suggests that the one had some sort of upgrade. I'd like to find out exactly what so I can whip up some sort of countermeasure."

I nodded, a little surprised I actually kept up with what Miles was saying for once. "Seems like every time we counter them, they find a way to counter us."

"This very much will be a war of measures and countermeasures," agreed Miles. "The Feds must have some minds as brilliant as mine working against us."

"At least I'm in the game, now that we can counter those chips," I said, though inwardly I was shuddering at the idea of an evil Miles working against us. Or worse, more than one. "Have you already gotten them out of Cleo and Butch's heads?"

Miles shook his head. "I've disabled the kill-switches, yes, but I've left the immunity to telepathy."

I grinned. "What, don't trust me?"

"I'm more worried about an enemy telepath turning them against us."

"Shit. You think that's coming soon?"

"It's a matter of time. The Feds cannot ignore our actions any longer. But they're not going to just throw their assets at us. They're going to plan out any further actions with extreme caution. Things will only get more and more dangerous here on out."